Chapter 8: Cherish Your Talent

Wei Ranxu clearly hadn't expected Jin Shaoyu to actually come; wasn't it said that the two were on bad terms?

Admit defeat.

Seeing him arrive, Ling Wu first looked up to meet his gaze, then revealed a beautiful smile, stood up silently, naturally moved to stand behind him, and curled the corners of his lips toward Wei Ranxu.

That expression looked exactly like he was saying: I have someone protecting me, too.

Wei Ranxu had no choice but to apologize: "Young Master Jin, it was I who spoke wrongly."

"It was just a joke between classmates."

Ling Wu hooked his thumb into Jin Shaoyu's cuff, but the other party seemed not to notice, so he used his hand to tug on that piece of fabric again.

Jin Shaoyu:?

What was scratching him?

Jin Shaoyu lowered his head slightly, his lips a pale shade, pulling into an indifferent arc: "Something the matter?"

Ling Wu hurriedly tattled: "It wasn't like he said at all, he threw my phone."

Jin Shaoyu had seen the whole sequence of events clearly; he naturally understood that Ling Wu had been wronged and had his phone thrown, and although he didn't want to deal with Ling Wu.

But his father, Jin Liangjin, would absolutely not allow Jin Shaoyu to sit idly by.

Jin Shaoyu didn't move his body, looking at Wei Ranxu with a commanding tone: "Come here."

Wei Ranxu moved.

Jin Shaoyu raised his foot and kicked the person over, his expression idle and faint.

As if he had disciplined a stray cat or dog.

Wei Ranxu hadn't expected such a blunt method of humiliation; the Empire's technology was developing rapidly, civilization was advancing, and people had long since learned to use knowledge and etiquette as an outer garment to whitewash and disguise their bestial side.

The usually high-and-mighty Wei Ranxu had astonishment in his eyes.

"...... You hit me?"

Jin Shaoyu lit a cigarette, flicked the ash onto him, and his smile grew wider: "Does one need to pick a time to beat a dog?"

The hierarchy was strict and insurmountable.

Such a solidified chasm could easily crush a person to death; in the eyes of commoners, Wei Ranxu was an unscalable mountain, but in Jin Shaoyu's eyes, he was nothing more than a dog working for the Jing Family.

Wei Ranxu could use power to crush others, and by the same logic, he could be crushed by power.

Jin Shaoyu shifted his pace, taking in Ling Wu's disheveled appearance; his slightly lowered eyelids made him look cold and thin, and his words were always so sharp: "Don't lose face for the Jin Family outside; I don't have the time to clean up your messes."

【Don't listen to him, don't listen to him, this "hard-mouthed brother" Jin Shaoyu, he's clearly worried to death, yet he's pretending to be nonchalant.】

【Young Master Jin, I'm literally laughing my head off, you were practically walking with the wind on your way here, why act so unwilling?】

【Do you want to check where you left Jing Du, who came with you, before you keep talking?】

【Hard-mouthed brother/.】

【Hard-mouthed brother +10086】

If not for the reminder from the comments, Ling Wu really wouldn't have been able to tell that Jin Shaoyu cared about him; seeing that Jin Shaoyu was about to leave, he hurriedly grabbed his wrist: "Thank you."

Jin Shaoyu looked at him without speaking.

But Ling Wu felt that he had become unhappy; the air pressure had dropped by several degrees.

What was wrong again?

【Ahhhhh... I really give up, you two are biological brothers! Biological brothers! Why are you saying thank you for a favor!!】

【These two brothers are too distant; I don't talk to my younger brother like that, I just use bloodline suppression directly.】

【He definitely thinks you're drawing a line between you two.】

【Don't say thank you.】

【3! 2! 1, Young Master Jin is about to explode!】

Jin Shaoyu pried his fingers off and used a silk handkerchief to wipe the place that had touched him clean: "Who gave you permission to touch me? Truly dirty."

He threw the used handkerchief onto the ground and stepped on it hard as he left, his back looking heartless.

Ling Wu chased after him and happened to run into Yu Shixue and the other two walking from the other side of the corridor; he didn't speak, and his gaze didn't even linger, just passing by him along with Jing Du.

Conversely, the cold and distant Jing Du rarely deigned to give him a glance, leaving behind a sentence: "Tomorrow night at eight, come to Jingwan to find me."

That gaze was extremely profound, like a king hunting in the forest.

Jingwan was the villa area of Sike Academy, where ordinary nobles and commoners were forbidden to enter; it was a residence provided exclusively for the heirs of the four great conglomerate families.

Ling Wu was puzzled; what did Jing Du want with him?

【He saw you beat up that bitch Wei Ranxu.】

....... He saw it?

When?

The next second, the comments cleared it up for him:

【The supporting character doesn't know yet; at the time, Jin Shaoyu and Jing Du were standing on the second floor of the ancient castle across from the artificial lake, and they saw the whole process.】

【Pretty wild.】

Seeing him soaked all over, his thin frame looking like it could be blown away by the wind, Yin Huaiyu took off his own coat and draped it over Ling Wu's shoulders.

"Brother, this is our second meeting; why are you still so disheveled?"

"It makes my heart ache just looking at you."

Before leaving, Yin Huaiyu didn't forget to remind him: "Remember to return the coat to me next time."

"Looking forward to our third meeting."

The next day.

Sophomore Class A.

After being humiliated by Ling Wu in the Darkness private room, Shen Zhaojue had been holding in his anger; unable to find Ling Wu, he could only vent his anger on Qi Yu, the Special Student with no power or influence.

"Throw his test papers away."

"Pick them up!"

"Yo, our Special Student actually got a perfect score. It's a pity that studying is your only way out, but in the Empire, money can make countless top students like you come one after another to be my dogs."

"That is the difference, understand?"

As Shen Zhaojue's lackey, Jiang Shun naturally would not let pass this opportunity to humiliate Qi Yu and curry favor with Shen Zhaojue.

He stepped on that test paper with his foot.

The classroom erupted in laughter.

Shen Zhaojue leaned against the back of his chair with his legs slightly apart, spinning a Pelikan fountain pen with one hand, watching Qi Yu miserably pick up the papers one by one from the floor; the restlessness in his heart eased significantly.

So what if your grades are good?

Some people only need to be born, they don't even need to work hard, and even if they are arrogant, lazy, sinister, hypocritical... they still thrive and soar all the way.

Ling Wu entered the classroom at this moment.

Because of that photo on the forum, many people kept casting their gazes toward him; they saw the youth's long eyelashes lowered, his profile cold and pale, carrying a hint of illness, as if he were a jade ornament made of paper, ready to scatter at a gust of wind.

Ling Wu arrived late, and the classroom was almost full.

No one was willing to sit next to the Special Student, so there was still a seat left beside Qi Yu.

Ling Wu walked down the aisle and saw a perfect-score advanced mathematics paper spread on the floor, the originally clean and tidy surface marked with a gray footprint.

The name column read: Qi Yu.

He picked it up casually, his expression indifferent as he walked toward the empty seat next to Qi Yu, brushed off the dust, and placed it on the desk: "Keep your things safe."

"Cherish your talent."

Then he sat down.

Whether it was Jiang Shun or Shen Zhaojue, both were completely ignored by him.

He did not care about the gazes filling the classroom either; his thin shoulders and back were held straight, and he took out his books with fluid, effortless movements, as if he were accustomed to such gazes countless times before.

Qi Yu just watched as the noble and beautiful young master bent down, picked up that soiled paper for him, and placed it on his desk.

Throughout the whole process, not a single trace of impurity could be found in those pitch-black, pure eyes.

—"Cherish your talent."

How rare and precious.